BC Conservative Leader Lorne Doerkson insists he’s still thinking over what to do about the province’s auto insurance system if he wins the election and forms government this month. But his own signed letter to several legal groups makes it pretty clear he’s already made up his mind, without telling the public.

The letter, released Tuesday by the BC NDP’s union friends at MoveUP, spells out a cut-and-dried policy position by Doerkson in a memo he signed personally.

“We’ll replace the NDP’s no-fault ICBC insurance scheme with a hybrid system,” he wrote Sept. 29 to the Canadian Bar Association’s B.C. branch, the Trial Lawyers Association of BC, the Law Society of BC and the Insurance Bureau of Canada.

“It will keep rates affordable for drivers and protect people seriously hurt by reckless drivers. Ontario, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick, PEI and Newfoundland and Labrador all run hybrid systems. We can learn from them and do better.”

New Democrats slammed Doerkson for his “secret” promise to lawyers. And they are right. The Conservatives did not make the letter public. Nor has their commitment to create a new hybrid auto insurance model been announced anywhere on the campaign or even mentioned by the leader.

Confronted with the letter Tuesday, Doerkson tried to downplay what he’d done.

“I think no-fault insurance has been very challenging for the residents of British Columbia on both sides,” he said.

“I mean, obviously we have to provide affordable insurance coverage for all of our residents, but for those that have experienced catastrophic injury and potentially life-altering injury, this program has not supported them well.

“And in so many cases, we need to improve that, and we absolutely have to contemplate this insurance model.”

He added: “There’s been no promises made by me at all.”

But that doesn’t appear true.

His written commitment to “replace” no-fault is not a promise for study, deliberation and consultation with the public — it’s a promise to act in a certain way should the Conservatives win power. And it’s made directly to a sector of personal injury lawyers that stand to make millions of dollars from the decision.

As for the nature of the “hybrid” system, Doerkson’s letter says “everything’s on the table, including opening auto insurance to private competition to drive down auto insurance rates and bringing back sensible limits on minor-injury claims.”

Some provinces, such as Ontario, have both a no-fault accident benefit system, plus a tort system that lets people file lawsuits for damages against other drivers within a private insurance system. Saskatchewan has a public auto insurer like B.C., but allows people to pay extra for “tort coverage” on top of no-fault, giving them the extra right to sue for compensation.

B.C. was the last province in Canada to have a fully tort-based system when it changed in 2021. By cutting lawyers out, the NDP said it has been able to keep insurance rates low.

The NDP’s Mike Farnworth slammed Doerkson, saying insurance rates under hybrid systems in Alberta or Ontario are considerably higher than B.C.

“For a leader of a major party in this province to enter into a secret deal with those lawyers to sell out British Columbians and not tell them the truth is disgraceful,” added NDP Leader David Eby.

In a statement, the Conservatives tried to clarify Doerkson’s comments by saying the party will in fact go forward with a hybrid model that restores the right to sue reckless drivers in court.

“Everyone hurt in a crash will keep getting timely treatment and rehabilitation through no-fault benefits,” the party said in a statement Tuesday.

“People seriously or permanently injured by reckless drivers will also get back the right to seek fair compensation in an independent court, with safeguards against fraud and stronger independent review and appeal rights.”

Rather than provide clarity, the party statement only served to further undercut Doerkson’s claim that “no promises” have been made.

Maybe the move will ultimately turn out to be the right policy. But the Conservatives flirt with disaster by doing it this way.

Any politician who wants to overhaul the public auto insurance system, during an affordability crisis, when voters are ultra-sensitive about their ICBC rates, better talk to the public first.

Rob Shaw has spent more than 17 years covering B.C. politics, now reporting for CHEK News and writing for Lodestar Media. He is the co-author of the national bestselling book A Matter of Confidence, host of the weekly podcast Political Capital, and a regular guest on CBC Radio.

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